Be devoted to conscientiousness. Guard your own mind.
Lift yourself up from this bad place, just like an elephant sunk in mud.

appamada+rata       hotha     sa+cittam anurakkhatha
|                   |             |          |        |              |
N.m.       Adj.m.    V.act.    Adj.  N.n.       V.act.
|             Nom.Pl. 2.Pl.imp.    |   Acc.Sg.  2.Pl.imp.
|___________|            |          |_____|              |
         |_____________|               |__________|

List of Abbreviations

dugga uddharatha attanaj   pavke    sanno     va    kubjaro
|                  |             |            |            |           |          |
N.m.       V.act.      N.m.     N.m.     Adj.m.  part.    N.m.
Abl.Sg.  2.Pl.imp.  Acc.Sg. Loc.Sg. Nom.Sg.    |     Nom.Sg.
|__________|              |           |_______|          |           |
         |_____________|                  |_________|______|
                     |                                       |____|
                     |________________________|

appamadarata: appamadarata-, Adj.: devoted to conscientiousness. It is a compound of:
    appamada-, N.m.: conscientiousness, non-negligence. A negated (by the negative prefix a-) word pamada-, N.m.: negligence. Euphonic combination: a- + pamada- = appamada-.
    rata-, Adj.: devoted. It is a p.p. of the verb ram- (to delight in, to be devoted to).
Nom.Pl.m. = appamadarata.

hotha, V.: be. The verb root is (b)hu-. 2.Pl.act.imp. = hotha.

sacittam: sacitta-, N.n.: one's own mind. This word is itself a compound of:
    sa-, Adj.: own.
    citta-, N.n.: mind.
Acc.Sg. = sacittam.

anurakkhatha, V.: guard, protect. The verb root is rakkh- (to protect) with the prefix anu- (along). 2.Pl.act.imp. = anurakkhatha.

List of Abbreviations

dugga: dugga-, N.m.: bad place, difficult road. It is derived from the verb root gam- (to go) and the prefix du- (bad, difficult). Abl.Sg. = dugga.

uddharatha, V.: rise, lift up. The verb root is dhar- (to hold) with the prefix ud- (up).
2.Pl.act.imp. = uddharatha.

attanaj: attan-, N.m.: self. Acc.Sg. = attanaj.
Euphonic combination: uddharatha + attanaj = uddharathattanaj.

pavke: pavka-, N.m.: mud, dirt. Loc.Sg. = pavke.

sanno: sanna-, Adj.: sunk. It is a p.p. of the verb root sad- (to sit). Nom.Sg.m. = sanno.

va, part.: as, like.

kubjaro: kubjara-, N.m.: elephant. Nom.Sg. = kubjaro.

List of Abbreviations

    This verse consists of three syntactically separate sentences. They are:
    1) appamadarata hotha (be devoted to conscientiousness). The subject is omitted; the verb implies the second person plural pronoun. The verb is hotha (be, 2^nd person, plural, active, imperative). The object is the compound appamadarata (devoted to conscientiousness, nominative singular).
    2) sacittam anurakkhatha (guard your own mind). The subject is omitted; the verb implies the second person plural pronoun. The verb is anurakkhatha (guard, 2^nd person, plural, active, imperative). The object is the compound sacittam (own mind, accusative singular).
    3) dugga uddharathattanaj pavke sanno va kubjaro (lift yourself up from this bad place, just like an elephant sunk in mud). This can be further analysed into the main sentence a) and the dependent clause b):
    a) dugga uddharathattanaj (lift yourself up from this bad place). The subject is omitted; the verb implies the second person plural pronoun. The verb is uddharatha (lift up, 2^nd person, plural, active, imperative). It has an attribute, the noun dugga (from the bad place). The object is the noun attanaj (yourself, accusative singular).
    b) pavke sanno va kubjaro (just like an elephant sunk in mud). The subject is the noun kubjaro (elephant, nominative singular). It has an attribute, the past participle sanno (sunk, nominative singular). This word has also an attribute, the noun pavke (in mud, locative singular). The particle va (as, like) connects the clause to the main sentence.

    There was an elephant that was very strong when young, but as he got old, he became weak. Once he went to a pond and got stuck in the mud. The king sent some elephant trainers to help him. They started to beat the battle-drums. When the elephant heard them, his spirit rose and he freed himself from the mud.
    When the Buddha heard about this, he spoke this verse, saying that just as the elephant pulled himself out of mud, so we must pull ourselves from the mud of defilements and suffering.

Sentence pronunciation

Word pronunciation:

appamadarata
appamada
rata
hotha
sacittam
sa
cittam
anurakkhatha
dugga
uddharatha
attanaj
pavke
sanno
va
kubjaro